The Burning Platform

Guest Post by Alex Berenson

And why the fight to protect our Constitution and our rights will never end

Last month, my rights were violated up close and personal.

I was driving home from New York City. 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Four-lane divided highway. Empty. I was exhausted, alone, and sober.

Ahead I saw a police sedan’s flashing lights. A drunk driving checkpoint. State troopers, not local cops.

I slowed, pulled up, lowered my window. Can I see your license?

I know sobriety checkpoints have been found constitutionally okay. In my opinion – which predates this interaction – they aren’t. Want to pull me over because I’m speeding, or failing to signal, or weaving? Have at it. Sure, no one drives the limit at 2 a.m. (or ever) on Route 9, but at the least I have committed a legal infraction.

But stopping me when I have broken no law – not even, in the famous words of Jay-Z, doing fifty-five in a fifty-four — and demanding identification?

That game should not be allowed in the United States of America.

Nonetheless, I handed over my license.

Have you been drinking?

Continue reading “On the coercive power of government”